Gifford's first novel - Piggies - was rightly acclaimed as a brilliant work of teenage horror. Following that sort of debut isn't easy.

Perhaps sensibly, Gifford's second book doesn't try to be "the same again" but takes a rather different tack. Whereas Piggies threw you into the story from page one, Flesh and Blood is very much a slow burn.

The story revolves around Matt, a young man who is probably in his early teens. The book begins with the funeral of Matt's grandmother, an event that allows us a first glimpse of various members of the strange Wareden family.

After the funeral Matt and his mother travel to visit his grandfather and stay with other members of the family. As the family life Matt has been used to disintegrates, disturbing incidents start to occur with Gifford slowly ratcheting up the atmosphere.

As the story progresses we get all sorts of hints of things being just "wrong". There's a subtle and growing feeling of menace without any obvious cause. Gifford clearly knows that what we don't see can be more frightening than what we do see.

Then we learn the truth: Alternity. An alternative universe where things are very different. An eternal nightmare. A place to which Matt is inextricably bound.

Alternity is a place of power. Some people in the normal universe want to harness its power for their own ends; and the inhabitants of Alternity want to escape to the real world. Matt must try to protect the entrance to Alternity - without becoming trapped there himself.

It's natural to wonder whether Alternity is supposed to be literally true or metaphorical, especially given the book's coverage of such standard teenage issues as rebellion, alienation and parental break-up. Even the title is nicely ambiguous. Gifford seems to have opted for both truth and metaphor. Alternity is real - yet also clearly a reflection of the emotional state of Matt and the collapse of his family.

As expected from Gifford, Flesh and Blood is a good story well written. However it does have a slight feeling of being two different books joined together. We don't learn about Alternity until half way through the book and then it's another twenty pages or so before anything actually "happens". Having spent so long in the twilight of hints and shadows our eventual exposure to the reality of Alternity is somewhat jarring.

Modern readers (of any age) are so used to the "body on the first page" that I wonder if they will have the patience to stick with the story. This potential problem seems to have been acknowledged by the inclusion of a prologue. My suspicion is that this was an editorial decision to try and keep people reading.

I hope it works. Flesh and Blood is an excellent piece of quiet horror with the occasional really nasty moment. If you're looking for whizz, bang, blood-in-your-face horror then give it a miss. This is a thoughtful novel reminiscent of the M.R.James tradition.

If you want quiet, intelligent horror then Flesh and Blood is one to read.